Up-slope from the redwood forest are found transitional tree species such as Pacific madrone, along with a stand of Ponderosa pine, rare at such a low elevation. Some of the highest and driest ridge slopes in the park support fairly unusual chaparral communities known as "elfin forests" in addition to the rare and unique Santa Cruz Sandhills community. The old-growth grove of coast redwood, approximately 40 acres (16 ha) in size,[3] is located entirely in the original section of the park, surrounded by many species of fern and plentiful redwood sorrel. Surrounding areas, including the non-contiguous Fall Creek unit, were logged extensively in the mid-to-late 1800s for lumber and as fuel for the many lime kilns that used to operate in the area, such as the ones preserved at nearby Cowell Lime Works. Logging activities mostly ceased by the 1920s, and the second growth redwoods are now up to several feet in diameter.

Both portions of the park have much to offer vacationing families or nature enthusiasts. Hiking, fishing (depending on season), seasonal camping (including RV), birdwatching, and a few horse dog-friendly and mountain biking trails, and shopping at the Mountain Parks Nature Store await visitors to this park. Next door to the main parking lot is the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad.

There are over 15 miles (24 km) of hiking trails, some of which lead to small, isolated sandy beaches on the San Lorenzo River, and others with overlook views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, with peeks at Monterey Bay.

The park has a more modern visitor center, which is open year-round to the public, and is staffed by California Parks employees and volunteer docents. Additionally, the Mountain Parks Nature Store is open during most park hours, and there is a direct entrance from the park's main parking lot to the grounds of Roaring Camp and Big Trees Railroad.

The Redwood Grove comprises old-growth "virgin" redwoods, the oldest trees of which are approximately 1,400–1,800 years old and grow to approximately 300 feet (91 m) tall and over 16 feet (4.9 m) in diameter. Referred to by locals as "the loop," the grove is primarily a self-guided walk—but on most summer weekends, and many other times year-round, free guided walks led by docents or park employees are available. Featured on the loop are unique old-growth redwoods, including one with albino growth lignotubers and the John C. Fremont tree (a tree hollowed out by fire that was once used as a resort honeymoon room).
Next to the park's entrance kiosk, all three known types of redwood trees, the Coast Redwood, the Giant Sequoia, and the Dawn Redwood (the latter two not native to the area) are planted together, providing a unique place to instantly compare and contrast the members of this family of trees.

This park provides a good environment for the study of different habitats. Habitats in this park, often changing back and forth within a few hundred feet of one another, include riparian, sandhill community, mixed evergreen, and redwood forests. Anglers fish for Steelhead and salmon during the winter. There is a picnic area overlooking the San Lorenzo River.

The Garden of Eden is a popular swimming hole in the San Lorenzo River within Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

It is accessible via Ox Fire Road off Highway 9 and has a parking area located 0.75 miles south of the park’s main entrance. This route requires approximately 1.5 miles of hiking, roundtrip, with an elevation change of 200 feet.

The water depth at the Garden of Eden is insufficient to cushion the many large, sharp rocks on the pool's bottom and, as such diving is not permitted. Likewise, alcohol, dogs, fires, and glass containers are also prohibited in the area.

The northern extension of Henry Cowell State Park, called Fall Creek Unit, contains over 20 miles (30 km) of hiking trails, mostly along the creeks that flow year-round and make beautiful mini waterfalls during the rainy season (November–March). There is also an 18-hole Disc Golf course run by a local school (Nature Academy). Along Fall Creek are the ruins of a 19th-century lime manufacturing operation, including a quarry and lime kilns built by I.X.L. Lime Company (established in 1874).[4] The lime works were later acquired by industrialist Henry Cowell.

The Fall Creek in Santa Cruz County originates near Empire Grade Road, and flows 4-5 miles South and South-East, before it meets San Lorenzo River, east of Highway 9.

Felton is home to the Felton Covered Bridge, an 80-foot-long covered bridge over the San Lorenzo River built in 1892, the Trout Farm Inn was located in Felton. It burned down on June 5,2016, the 2010 United States Census reported that Felton had a population of 4,057. The population density was 891.2 people per square mile, the racial makeup of Felton was 3,691 White,25 African American,29 Native American,69 Asian,11 Pacific Islander,60 from other races, and 172 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 283 persons, the Census reported that 99. 4% of the population lived in households and 0. 6% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters. There were 154 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 27 same-sex married couples or partnerships,474 households were made up of individuals and 130 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37, there were 988 families, the average family size was 2.89. The median age was 44.0 years, for every 100 females there were 101.1 males.

For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.5 males, there were 1,895 housing units at an average density of 416.3 per square mile, of which 69. 5% were owner-occupied and 30. 5% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2. 1%, the vacancy rate was 3. 0%. 72. 8% of the lived in owner-occupied housing units and 26. 6% lived in rental housing units

A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. They are generally quite small protected areas and often have high visitor value and this is a lower level of protection than level II and level I. The European Environment Agencys guidelines for selection of a natural monument are, the area should be large enough to protect the integrity of the feature and its immediately related surroundings

The common use of the name sequoia generally refers to Sequoiadendron giganteum, which occurs naturally only in groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The etymology of the name has been presumed—initially in The Yosemite Book by Josiah Whitney in 1868—to be in honor of Sequoyah. Giant sequoias are the worlds largest single trees and largest living thing by volume, Giant sequoias grow to an average height of 50–85 m and 6–8 m in diameter. Record trees have been measured to be 94.8 m in height, claims of 17 m diameter have been touted by taking an authors writing out of context, but the widest known at chest height is closer to 8.2 m. Between 2014 and 2016, specimens of coast redwood were found to have larger trunk diameters than all known giant sequoias, the oldest known giant sequoia based on ring count is 3,500 years old. Giant Sequoias are among the oldest living things on Earth, Sequoia bark is fibrous and may be 90 cm thick at the base of the columnar trunk.

It provides significant fire protection for the trees, the leaves are evergreen, awl-shaped, 3–6 millimetres long, and arranged spirally on the shoots. The seed is brown, 4–5 millimetres long and 1 millimetre broad, with a 1-millimetre wide. Some seeds are shed when the cone scales shrink during hot weather in late summer, the giant sequoia regenerates by seed. Young trees start to bear cones at the age of 12 years, Trees up to about 20 years old may produce stump sprouts subsequent to injury, but unlike coast redwoods, shoots do not form on the stumps of mature trees. Giant sequoias of all ages may sprout from their boles when branches are lost to fire or breakage, at any given time, a large tree may be expected to have about 11,000 cones. Cone production is greatest in the portion of the canopy. A mature giant sequoia has been estimated to disperse 300, 000–400,000 seeds per year, the winged seeds may be carried up to 180 metres from the parent tree. Lower branches die fairly readily from shading, but trees less than 100 years old retain most of their dead branches, trunks of mature trees in groves are generally free of branches to a height of 20–50 metres, but solitary trees will retain low branches.

Because of its size, the tree has been studied for its water pull, Sequoias supplement water from the soil with fog, taken up through air roots, at heights to where the root water cannot be pulled. The natural distribution of giant sequoias is restricted to an area of the western Sierra Nevada. They occur in scattered groves, with a total of 68 groves, nowhere does it grow in pure stands, although in a few small areas, stands do approach a pure condition. The northern two-thirds of its range, from the American River in Placer County southward to the Kings River, has only eight disjunct groves, the remaining southern groves are concentrated between the Kings River and the Deer Creek Grove in southern Tulare County

Henry Dixon Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, teacher and impresario. His experiments begun three decades ago in rhythm, in harmony, and in instrumental sonorities were considered by many to be wild, today they are the Bible of the young and still, to the conservatives, advanced. No other composer of our time has produced a body of works so radical and so normal, so penetrating, add to this massive production his long and influential career as a pedagogue, and Henry Cowells achievement becomes impressive indeed. There is no other quite like it, to be both fecund and right is given to few. After his parents divorce in 1903, he was raised by his mother, Clarissa Dixon, author of the early feminist novel Janet and his father, with whom he maintained contact, introduced him to the Irish music that would be a touchstone for Cowell throughout his career. While receiving no formal education, he began to compose in his mid-teens. By the summer of 1914, Cowell was writing truly individualistic works and that fall, the largely self-taught Cowell was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley, as a protégé of Charles Seeger.

There he studied harmony and other subjects under Seeger and Edward GriffithStricklen, after two years at Berkeley, Cowell pursued further studies in New York where he encountered Leo Ornstein, the radically futurist composer-pianist. Still a teenager, Cowell wrote the piano piece Dynamic Motion and it requires the performer to use both forearms to play massive secundal chords and calls for keys to be held down without sounding to extend and intensify its dissonant cluster overtones. In years, Cowell would claim that the piece had been composed around 1912 and it was on one of these tours that in 1923, his friend Richard Buhlig introduced Cowell to young pianistGrete Sultan in Berlin. They worked closely together—an aspect vital to Grete Sultans personal and artistic development, Cowell made such an impression with his tone cluster technique that Béla Bartók requested his permission to adopt it. Cowells endeavors with string piano techniques were the inspiration for John Cages development of the prepared piano.

Even the canon in the first movement of the Romantic has different note-lengths for each voice, in 1919, Cowell had begun writing New Musical Resources, which would finally be published after extensive revision in 1930. Focusing on the variety of rhythmic and harmonic concepts he used in his compositions. Conlon Nancarrow, for instance, would refer to it as having the most influence of anything Ive ever read in music. Cowell wrote several compositions for the instrument, including an orchestrated concerto. Soon, the Rhythmicon would be forgotten, remaining so until the 1960s. A prolific composer of songs, Cowell returned in 1930–31 to Aeolian Harp, adapting it as the accompaniment to a setting of a poem by his father

The University of California, Santa Cruz, is a public research university and one of 10 campuses in the University of California system. Located 75 miles south of San Francisco at the edge of the community of Santa Cruz. Founded in 1965, UC Santa Cruz began as a showcase for progressive, cross-disciplinary undergraduate education, innovative teaching methods and contemporary architecture. The residential college system, which consists of ten colleges, is intended to combine the student support of a small college with the resources of a major university. The Santa Cruz site was selected over a proposal to build the campus closer to the population center of San Jose. The formal design process of the Santa Cruz campus began in the late 1950s, construction had started by 1964, and the university was able to accommodate its first students in 1965. The campus was intended to be a showcase for contemporary architecture, progressive teaching methods, according to founding chancellor Dean McHenry, the purpose of the distributed college system was to combine the benefits of a major research university with the intimacy of a smaller college.

UC President Clark Kerr shared a passion with former Stanford roommate McHenry to build a university modeled as several Swarthmores in close proximity to each other, roads on campus were named after UC Regents who voted in favor of building the campus. Early student and faculty activism at UCSC pioneered an approach to environmentalism that greatly impacted the development of the surrounding area. The lowering of the age to 18 in 1971 led to the emergence of a powerful student-voting bloc. City voters in 2006 passed two measures calling on UCSC to pay for the impacts of campus growth, a Santa Cruz Superior Court judge invalidated the measures, ruling they were improperly put on the ballot. In 2008, the university, city and neighborhood organizations reached an agreement to set aside numerous lawsuits and allow the expansion to occur. UCSC agreed to local government scrutiny of its campus expansion plans, to provide housing for 67 percent of the additional students on campus. George Blumenthal, UCSCs 10th Chancellor, intends to mitigate growth constraints in Santa Cruz by developing off-campus sites in Silicon Valley.

The NASA Ames Research Center campus is planned to ultimately hold 2,000 UCSC students – about 10% of the universitys future student body as envisioned for 2020. In April 2010, UC Santa Cruz opened its new $35 million Digital Arts Research Center, the 2, 000-acre UCSC campus is located 75 miles south of San Francisco, in the Ben Lomond Mountain ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Elevation varies from 285 feet at the entrance to 1,195 feet at the northern boundary. The southern portion of the campus consists of a large, open meadow

Corylus cornuta is a deciduous shrubby hazel found in most of North America, from southern Canada south to Georgia and California. It grows in dry woodlands and forest edges and can reach 4–8 metres tall with stems 10–25 centimetres thick with smooth gray bark, the leaves are rounded oval, coarsely double-toothed, 5–11 centimetres long and 3–8 centimetres broad, with hairy undersides. The flowers are catkins that form in the fall and pollinate in the following spring, Corylus cornuta is named from its fruit, which is a nut enclosed in a husk with a tubular extension 2–4 centimetres long that resembles a beak. Tiny filaments protrude from the husk and may stick into, and irritate, the spherical nuts, which are surrounded by a hard shell, are edible. There are two varieties, Corylus cornuta var. cornuta – Eastern Beaked Hazel, small shrub,4 to 6 m tall, beak longer,3 cm or more. Corylus cornuta var. californica – Western Beaked Hazel or California Hazelnut, large shrub,4 to 15 m tall, beak shorter, usually less than 3 cm.

The Concow tribe called this variety gōm’-he’’-ni, the seeds are dispersed by jays and rodents such as red squirrels and least chipmunks. Although C. cornuta is somewhat shade tolerant, it is common in open forests than denser ones

The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with AlcaldeFrancisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849.

The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush

The steam engines date from the 1890s, and are some of the oldest and most authentically preserved narrow-gauge steam engines still providing regular passenger service in the United States. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated three engines at Roaring Camp and Big Trees Railroad as Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark #134 in 1988, Roaring Camp Railroads operations began in 1963 under the guidance of F. Norman Clark, who was the founder and owner. His purpose was to keep a tradition of constructing railroads and to bring the romance. In 1958, Clark found the engine Dixiana abandoned near a mine in the Appalachian Mountains. Dixiana was reconditioned and began service in 1963 on rails that had been shipped around Cape Horn in 1881. The railway route was laid out so that as few trees as possible would have to be cut on the 170 acres Clark acquired with a 99-year lease of the larger Big Trees Ranch. The Big Trees Ranch was bought in 1867 by San Francisco businessman Joseph Warren Welch to preserve the giant redwood trees from logging and it was the first property in the state acquired specifically for that purpose.

In 1930, the Welch family sold part of the property to Santa Cruz County, the first scheduled train trip was on April 6,1963 with 44 ticketed passengers. Clarks wife, Vice President of Operations assumed the ownership, two large trestles formed a corkscrew loop at Spring Canyon, but these were destroyed by a 1976 fire, the smoke from which could be seen from San Francisco. Within six months, a switchback was constructed to bypass the severed loop, the switchback has an estimated 9. 5% grade, making it the steepest passenger grade still in use. The length of the tracks in the switchback restricts the trains that may be operated to six cars or fewer. Special events are held to raise funds for repair and reconstruction of the trestles, in 2003, the first Day Out With Thomas special event was held. The event was the single largest in the 40-year history of Roaring Camp, on December 28,2015, a train collided with a stop block on part of the switchback. The railroad owns several locomotives in various states of repair, regular service is typically handled by the railroads two Shay locomotives, with occasional appearances by the Heisler.

0-4-2TKahuku, the oldest locomotive on the roster, is used in service on special occasions. Due to its size, it is not capable of hauling trains up the mountain. Several of the diesels were sold in 2010 for economic reasons. Built in 1912, this engine was owned by the Alaculsy Lumber Company

It is the most widely distributed pine species in North America. It grows in various forms from British Columbia southward and eastward through 16 western U. S. states and has been successfully introduced in temperate regions of Europe. It was first documented into modern science in 1826 in eastern Washington near present-day Spokane, on that occasion, David Douglas misidentified it as Pinus resinosa. In 1829, Douglas concluded that he had a new pine among his specimens, in 1836, it was formally named and described by Charles Lawson, a Scottish nurseryman. It is the state tree of Montana. Pinus ponderosa is a large pine tree. The bark helps to distinguish it from other species, mature to over-mature individuals have yellow to orange-red bark in broad to very broad plates with black crevices. Younger trees have blackish-brown bark, referred to as blackjacks by early loggers, ponderosa pines five subspecies, as classified by some botanists, can be identified by their characteristically bright, green needles.

The Pacific subspecies has the longest—19.8 cm or 7.8 in—and most flexible needles in fascicles of three. The Columbia ponderosa pine has long—12. 0–20.5 cm or 4. 7–8.1 in—and relatively flexible needles in fascicles of three. The Rocky Mountains subspecies has shorter—9. 2–14.4 cm or 3. 6–5.7 in—and stout needles growing in scopulate fascicles of two or three. The southwestern subspecies has 11. 2–19.8 cm or 4. 4–7.8 in, needles are widest and fewest for the species. Sources differ on the scent of P. ponderosa, but it is more or less of turpentine, some state that it has no distinctive scent. The National Register of Big Trees lists a ponderosa pine that is 235 ft tall and 324 in in circumference, in January 2011, a Pacific ponderosa pine in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon was measured with a laser to be 268.35 ft high. The measurement was performed by Michael Taylor and Mario Vaden, a professional arborist from Oregon, the tree was climbed on October 13,2011, by Ascending The Giants and directly measured with tape-line at 268.29 ft high.

This is the second tallest known pine after the sugar pine and this species is grown as an ornamental plant in parks and large gardens. The trees were burned and blown over. Pinus ponderosa is a dominant tree in the Kuchler plant association, like most western pines, the ponderosa generally is associated with mountainous topography

Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U. S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Chaparral covers 5 percent of the state of California, and associated Mediterranean shrubland an additional 3.5 percent, the name comes from the Spanish word for scrub oak, chaparro. In its natural state, chaparral is characterized by infrequent fires, mature chaparral is characterized by nearly impenetrable, dense thickets. They grow as woody shrubs with hard and small leaves, are non-leaf-dropping, after the first rains following a fire, the landscape is dominated by soft-leaved non-woody annual plants, known as fire followers, which die back with the summer dry period. According to the California Academy of Sciences, Mediterranean shrubland contains more than 20 percent of the plant diversity. The word chaparral is a word from Spanish chaparro, meaning both small and dwarf evergreen oak, which itself comes from the Basque word txapar, with exactly the same meaning.

In Central and Southern California chaparral forms a dominant habitat, the following is a short list of birds which are an integral part of the cismontane chaparral ecosystems. Transmontane chaparral features xeric desert climate, not Mediterranean climate habitats, Desert chaparral is a regional ecosystem subset of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, with some plant species from the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. Unlike cismontane chaparral, which forms dense, impenetrable stands of plants, desert chaparral is open, individual shrubs can reach up to 10 feet in height. Transmontane chaparral or desert chaparral is found on the slopes of major mountain range systems on the western sides of the deserts of California. It is distinguished from the cismontane chaparral found on the side of the mountains. Naturally, desert chaparral experiences less rainfall than cismontane chaparral. Plants in this community are characterized by small, hard evergreen leaves, Desert chaparral grows above Californias desert cactus scrub plant community and below the pinyon-juniper woodland.

It is further distinguished from the deciduoussub-alpine scrub above the pinyon-juniper woodlands on the side of the Peninsular ranges. Transmontane chaparral typically grows on the northern slopes of the southern Transverse Ranges. It can be found in higher-elevation sky islands in the interior of the deserts, there is overlap of animals with those of the adjacent desert and pinyon-juniper communities. Canis latrans, coyotes Lynx rufus, bobcats Neotoma sp, the Chaparral area receives about 38–100 cm of precipitation a year. This makes the chaparral most vulnerable to fire in the late summer, the chaparral ecosystem as a whole is adapted to be able to recover from infrequent wildfires, chaparral regions are known culturally and historically for their impressive fires

Dwarf forest, elfin forest, or pygmy forest is a rare ecosystem featuring miniature trees, inhabited by small species of fauna such as rodents and lizards. They are usually located at high elevations, under conditions of sufficient air humidity, there are two main dwarf forest ecosystem types, involving different species and environmental characteristics, coastal temperate and montane tropical regions. Temperate coastal dwarf forest is common for parts of Southern California, montane tropical forests are found across tropical highlands of Central America, northern South America and Southeast Asia. There are other isolated examples of dwarf forests scattered across the world, Elfin forests of California are the primary example of coastal temperate dwarf forests. They are expansive, and cover most of the mountains in the half of California, extending into Mexico, Nevada. Other expanses of elfin forest are found throughout the state, in the northern, in northern California, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is home to an elfin forest with Mendocino cypress, and Sargents cypress, which is partially within a section of the ZayanteSandhill Area.

On the Central Coast of California, on the shore of Morro Bay. The area is approximately 90 acres and it derives the “elfin forest” title from the short California live oaks, which range in height from 4 –20 feet, compared to the typical 30–80 feet. This region contains the federally endangered Morro shoulderband snail, fire occurs at low-moderate frequency with high severity. Many plants have adapted to this by having serotinous seeds that open to germinate only under high heat, because of this, they are often the first to colonize a new area. Diminutive plants commonly found in Californian elfin forests include Portulacaceae such as Mount Hood pussypaws and Alkali heath and shrubs, such as chamise, ceanothus, sumac and scrub-oak rarely grow more than 20 ft tall in these communities. Invertebrates include the common scorpion, burrowing scorpion, and various species of spider, the Californian climate usually exhibits wet winters and dry summers. Variation in these patterns can cause devastating damage to plant communities.

Plants found in forests have adapted to grow during winter months. Plant communities deal with low, seasonal rainfall by relying on fog interception, formation of coastal elfin forests in northern California and Oregon, began with a series of marine terraces. A dune being pushed away from the coast by fluctuating sea levels solidified and slid under the one before it. Pioneer plant communities colonized and took over the young terrace, part of this soil profile includes an underlying clay or iron hardpan. Each terrace is relatively level and many are footed by paleo-dunes, drainage is poor at best on these stairs and plants sit in a bath of their own tannins and acids for much of the wet season

A visitor center or centre, visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to the visitors who tour the place or area locally. Often a film or other media display is used, if the site has permit requirements or guided tours, the visitor center is often the place where these are coordinated. A tourist information center, providing visitors to a location with information on the attractions, maps. Often, these centers are operated at the airport or other port of entry, often a visitor center is called simply an information center. A corporate visitor center, provides visitors with an easily accessible window into the corporation, Visitor centers used to provide fairly basic information about the place, corporation or event they are celebrating, acting more as the entry way to a place. The role of the center has been rapidly evolving over the past 10 years to become more of an experience. Many have become destinations and experiences in their own right, other TICs are run by local authorities or through private organisations such as local shops in association with BTA.

In England, VisitEngland promotes domestic tourism, in Wales, the Welsh Government supports TICs through Visit Wales. In Scotland, the Scottish Government supports VisitScotland, the official tourist organisation of Scotland, in Poland there are special offices and tables giving free information about tourist attractions. These information centers are operated by the state they are located in, the first example opened on 4 May 1935, next to US12 in New Buffalo, near the Indiana state line. In Ontario, there are 11 Ontario Travel Information Centres located along 400-series highways and it provides assistance on various procedures or where tourists have problems of various kinds. Iperú receives complaints and suggestions for destinations and tourism companies operating in Peru, iperú, Tourist Information and Assistance has a nationwide network represented online by the Peru. The official tourist organization or national tourist board of Peru is PromPerú, in Australia, most visitor centres are local or state government-run, or in some cases as an association of tourism operators on behalf of the government, usually managed by a board or executive.

Those that comply with an accreditation programme use the italic i as pictured above. Heritage center Heritage interpretation Interpretation center Nature center United States Capitol Visitor Center Communicating effectively with visitors -16 tips for visitor centers

The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in data gathering and …

Julian Huxley, the first Director General of UNESCO, took the initiative to set up IUCN

Santa Cruz County, California, officially the County of Santa Cruz, is a county on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 262,382. The county seat is Santa Cruz.Santa Cruz County comprises the Santa Cruz–Watsonville, CA Metropolitan Statistical …

Felton is a census-designated place in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. The population was 4,057 as of 2010 census and according to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.6 square miles, all of it land. — History — Named for John B. Felton, a …

State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational potential …

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth …

An old-growth forest — also termed primary forest or late seral forest — is a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance and thereby exhibits unique ecological features and might be classified as a climax community. Old-growth features include diverse tree-related structures …

The northern spotted owl primarily inhabits old-growth forests in the northern part of its range (Canada to southern Oregon) and landscapes with a mix of old and younger forest types in the southern part of its range (Klamath region and California).

Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California. As of 2013 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated Santa Cruz's population at 62,864. — Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, about 32 mi south of San Jose and 75 mi south of …

The University of California, Santa Cruz is a public research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of 10 campuses in the University of California system. Located 75 miles south of San Francisco at the edge of the coastal community of Santa …

Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1,200–1,800 years or more …

Umbellularia californica is a large hardwood tree native to coastal forests of California, as well as to coastal forests extending into Oregon. It is endemic to the California Floristic Province. It is the sole species in the genus Umbellularia. — The tree was formerly known as Oreodaphne …

Corylus cornuta, the beaked hazelnut, is a deciduous shrubby hazel found in most of North America, from southern Canada south to Georgia and California. It grows in dry woodlands and forest edges and can reach 4–8 metres tall with stems 10–25 cm thick with smooth gray bark …

Acer macrophyllum, the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus Acer. — It can grow up to 157.80 feet tall, but more commonly reaches 15–20 m tall. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to …

Arbutus menziesii, the Pacific madrone or madrona, is a species of tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the western coastal areas of North America, from British Columbia to California. — Common names — It is also known as the madroa, madroño, madroña, or bearberry. The name "strawberry tree" …

Dwarf forest, elfin forest, or pygmy forest is a rare ecosystem featuring miniature trees, inhabited by small species of fauna such as rodents and lizards. They are usually located at high elevations, under conditions of sufficient air humidity but poor soil. There are two main dwarf forest …

Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. — In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used narrowly to describe the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard. In …

A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone to produce the form of lime called quicklime. The chemical equation for this reaction is — CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2This reaction takes place at 900 °C (1650 °F; at which temperature the partial pressure …

The Redwood Grove of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, which is located in Santa Cruz County in Northern California, is a grove of Coast Redwoods with member trees extending into the 1400- to 1800-year-old range. This grove is notable because it allows for the use of self-guided tours of the flat …

A slice of a Coastal Redwood showing rings marking the years of 1215–1620 AD

Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer, the sole living species of the genus Metasequoia, one of three species in the subfamily Sequoioideae. It now survives only in wet lower slopes and montane river and stream valleys in the border region …

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. — The word quarry can also include the underground quarrying for stone, such as Bath stone. — Types of rock — Types of rock extracted from …

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. San Francisco is the 13th-most populous city in the United States, and the fourth-most populous in …

The University of San Francisco is a Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The school's main campus is located on a 55-acre setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hilltop", and part of the main campus is located on Lone …

The United States Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres. Major divisions of the agency include the National Forest System, State and …

The history of California can be divided into: the Native American period; European exploration period from 1542 to 1769; the Spanish colonial period, 1769 to 1821; the Mexican period, 1821 to 1848; and United States statehood, from September 9, 1850 which continues to this …

Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii, also known as coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward to central California, United States. In Oregon and Washington its …

Disc golf is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target; it is played using rules similar to golf. It is often played on a course of 9 or 18 holes. Players complete a hole by throwing a disc from a tee area toward a target, throwing …

A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. — Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, natural monuments are level III, described as: — "Areas …

Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, or western yellow-pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to the western United States and Canada. It is the most widely distributed pine species in North America.It grows in various erect …

Notholithocarpus densiflorus, commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is an evergreen tree in the family Fagaceae, native to the western United States, in California as far south as the Transverse Ranges, north to southwest Oregon, and east in the Sierra Nevada. It can reach 40 m tall …

The Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad is a 3 ft narrow-gauge tourist railroad in California that starts from the Roaring Camp depot in Felton, California and runs up steep grades through redwood forests to the top of nearby Bear Mountain, a distance of 3.25 miles …

Scotts Valley is a small city in Santa Cruz County, California, United States, about thirty miles south of downtown San Jose and six miles north of the city of Santa Cruz, in the upland slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 11,580 …

Back view of the Scotts Valley Civic Center/City Hall, and Police Department.

Henry Dixon Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s: — Henry Cowell's music covers a wider range in both …

Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the US state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate and wildfire, featuring …